LeBron James has been a mainstay in the NBA Finals for the past six seasons, with the Miami Heat and now Cleveland Cavaliers.
Only the dynastic Boston Celtics teams from the 1960s made it to six straight Finals and only a handful of players like Bill Russell remained on the team for each appearance. Factor in the workload James has had to carry throughout his career and it makes his Finals run even more spectacular, a fact Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr recently marveled at.
While commenting on the physical and emotional toll it took on the Warriors to get to the championship last year, Kerr praised James for getting to six straight Finals.
From ESPN's J.A. Adande:
"The toll was more emotional than anything," Kerr said Friday, ahead of the Warriors' preseason game against the Denver Nuggets. "Over time, that stuff adds up. That's why LeBron [James] going to the Finals six straight years is, to me, one of the great accomplishments of all time. Like, how many guys have done that? Maybe Bill Russell was the last guy. I know Michael didn't do it because he took a couple of years off. Larry Bird, Magic [Johnson] never did it. ... Six is incredible."
Besides coaching the Warriors to two straight Finals, Kerr was a member of the Chicago Bulls when they went on their second three-peat from 1996-99. So he is well aware of hard it is to get to the Finals and can truly appreciate James' achievement.
Of course James hasn't won six straight championships, which some of his critics will hold against him. But as Kerr attests, making it to six straight Finals is "incredible" and should not be undervalued. It's just yet another reason why James, is one of the best players in the league or as he says the "world."
